River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-08-11
NoRrnwrsr EisN NEWS.

Germany, nave been eNpeVeu.
NORTHwEsT EKN NEWS.
\ Chicago dispatch of the Sth. makes
the following startling statement: A local
paper summing Up the many reports re-
ceived by it of drought, prairie fires ruined
crops, etc says this morning; There Is an
area, perdaps 1000 square miles, in the
Northwest where the dust lies heavy upon
the earth. The dist CT is bounded by Madi-
son on the north, Blooming uOn on the south,
Lake Michigan on the east aud the M;s.is-
slppi river On the west lC is within th.
limits of the g boundaries that the yegeta-
tion has lost IFS normal color and the earth
il" moisture Already the land encom-
passed by 1hese 1ounda les has been
blackened by wild h.es. in some towns
the people are often called on three or four
times a day 10 fight the flames DestIuc-
tive fires have been rag ug for many DAYS
at Kenosha Racine and Ntalworti counties
in Wisconsin,. Thousands of acres have
been swept by the flames aud the loss to
farmers in hay, grain. fencing aud build
ings is very great. Above Madison the boys
are burning hercely and The pdngeut
smoke hangs over the country for miles
around.
A few miles northwest of Albert Lea
Mimi, natural gas has been discovered. sew
eral wells having already been sunk gas has
been found in over twenty nlates. IT
rushes forth with such fOr,e as TO be head
ten or fifteen rods aud when ignited burns
to the height Of f,Om ten 10 Thirty feet.
One well lou ned three weeks and othec
varions lengths ot ,ime Trey were put out
for fear of fire being communicated 10 the
buildings near by. A company has been
formed comp Ell OF Me -s,s W. +. Ser
IA ~ 80
Prentice, t. NJ. Todd, William &. McAdam,
J. II. Hoyland. 4. v. kuo,vold aud j II.
Parker, to be known as the Freedom
Comfy Petroleum Gas company 1t has
already leased 10000 acres of laud lying in
the gas basin for "A erm of thirty years.
The company viii soon perfect its Organiza-
ton and secure machinery from Findlay,
Ohio, aud sink a deep well Thee viii pro
baby he three or foJr wells running
within a short time. Pipe lines win be laid
to Albeit Lea, Minneapolis 1t. Paul aud in
points.
1t IS reported that the drouth is so
severe in Southern Wisconsin that it is little
more than a black desert. The condition of
the ground can scarcely be imagined.
Every bit of moisture aud sap has been
burnt out of grass bushes aud All kinds of
vegetation, aud the earth is so dry that
even the roots OF the stubbie in recently
moved fields are burning over hundreds
upon hundreds of acres. SiOughs aud
weedy streams, which have never ceased
running before, are dried On, and the air is
filled with the smOle Of the burning weeds,
and even bog land, while the frame farm
houses aud balns are so thoroughly baked
that the Application of a lighted match to
the outside of many of them would speedily
reduce the structures to ashes Scores of
wells, fed by springs, have gone dry, and
the farmers in many instances are cO1a-
PEELED to go miles TO Che lakes for water for
purposes.
About a. m. Wednesday morning
as la,se force Of men were at work upon
the ruins of the burned st. Anthony eleva-
tor Minneapolis, Mimi, when a lection of
the we 1 OF he annex. IA feet hi IA and -
feet iOng fell oyef crushing six men under
the ruins. TIE stones of the wall were
bot aud tough water was used
men were severely burned in the effort to
handle them and it was ten minutes before
the first body could he reached
The victims were Gus. Brown married, age
80, & r. Anderson, single age -, Thos.
Dempsey, single, age 80, Joan Johnson,
single, age y one man unknown. The wall
had been considered pretty safe, but was
suddenly crowded out by pressure from the
wheat.
August Shulz. who burned the barn
King in Waverly, Coddington, Co,
Oak, recently, under the haluciuatiou
that King had wtonged him regarding a
land claim, appeared at Kings, at mid
night on the 3r0, calling him out with the
declaration ne bad come to kill him King
went out armed with his gun and Shulz
spraug on him with a club King fired
twice, when his assailaut disappeared, and
was found the rexe afternoon by section
hands of the rail- nad in a dying state. He
made an antemOrtem statement charging
himself with burning the barn and the
intention TO kill King and burn his house.
Bismarck. OAK, special: George f.
Reed, ex-city treasurer, shortage in whose
accounts of $1,000 was discovered, who dis
appeared about three months since, re
turned voluntarily Saturday afternoon.
Reeds return was predicted by his friends
from the first. He lacked the moral
courage to remain after the deficit was
brought TO light, Reed went first to the
Black Hills, thence to New York, where he
in raising among his friends
there the amount needed 10 make good the
deficiency. He Is nov prepared to liquidate
in full. No steps have yet been taken to
institute criminal proceedings against him.
Gen. Hamii,p'. ptonioeut citizen.
,lassmate at Yves; Point and life long
friend of Gen. Grant was reported dying at
Wis, on the 18th He resigned
after graduation and settled at Fond du
Lac. He went out as colonel of the Third
regiment aud soon won his brigadiership;
served with Grant below Cairo and at
Nicksburg, and was promoted 10 "a major
on Grants recommendation.
President Grant in 1870 appointed him
nited States marshal for " isconsin. He
served two terms.
A conference Of Roman Catholic Bish-
Dps was held at La Crosse, Wis, on Friday
10 arrange for the creation Of two new sees
m Bishop lreland's province. as soon as he
shall be invested with archiepiscopal honors
There were present Archbishop Heiss and
NatZer of Green Bay, Ireland st, Paul, Yer
i'm, Marquette Seidenbusch, Northern Min
lesota, Marty, Dakota, and Flasch of La
Crosse. The new diOceses will probably be
at h snarck aud Winona.
though il is not impossible the latter may
be at Mankato.
An audience of 5000 people crowded
he Washington rink Minneapolis, Friday
evening. TO witness the glove contest
Patsey Cardiff and Pat Killen.
AZ the end Of ten rounds the contest was
declared a draw. In the second round
Nillen broke a finger of his left hand. but
continued the contest with vtgOr and
'pirlt. sotl men We're III EoVd couaitlol
and their engagement was characterized
with good humor throughout.
A Dakota dispatch Of Monday re-
ports the killing of Anton Lonsted, a farm
hand at Harwood, by lightning, and of
Henry Bahr, also by lightning. at Daven-
port, while his employer, John Homer, was
stunned and had horse killed. Hail did
damage to the fields of Mrs.
Cross Mrs BishOp. Robert Lester and +. Y.
at Mapleton and William Eggert,